


Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

by rogueshadows, WritinRedhead



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Canon-Typical Violence, Emotionally Stubborn Gangsters, Guns, Hitman!Bodhi, M/M, Mafia Boss!Cassian, Non-Explicit Sex, Organized Crime, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-27
Updated: 2017-09-27
Packaged: 2019-01-06 05:43:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12205038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rogueshadows/pseuds/rogueshadows, https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritinRedhead/pseuds/WritinRedhead
Summary: “Any last requests, Andor?” The man continues,  almost like he cares.Cassian pauses, taking another long look at the man sent to kill him, admiring the deep dark eyes and the short, soft looking hair – maybe a bit too short to dig one’s hands in – the unwavering hold of his gun and the contrast of red lips against the black night sky behind him. He can only think of one thing and dares to ask outright.“Yes,” Cassian says, the corners of his mouth turning up. “One date, then you can shoot me.”





	Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the 'Accidental Mafia Fic We Actually Wrote'  
> After what started out as a short back and forth on tumblr we somehow wound up with nearly 17k words and I am honestly amazed. I hope people enjoy it as much as we enjoyed writing it!

It is late at night and everyone else has long since gone for the day.

Alliance headquarters are deserted when Cassian Andor watches the golden liquid pour from the bottle, filling his glass with about two fingers of whiskey. He deserves this drink. The previous celebration was nice, but Cassian prefers this – a quiet drink in honor of a successful coup by the criminal syndicate. He’s sure that just a few months ago, with Draven still running this organization, Galen Erso would have been shot and the money disappeared into nowhere. But those days are over.

With his expensive liquor in hand, Cassian walks back to his office. He plans to relax for once, no matter how fleeting it may be in his line of work, to enjoy his own, private moment of triumph.

The moment he flips on the light switch, he hears a familiar click. A gun cocking.

Cassian stops dead in his tracks and blinks up slowly, taking in the sight of a man leaning patiently against his desk, gun cocked at the ready.

To get a hitman here this quick, maybe Krennic is more competent than Cassian had thought. He has to give him credit for that. For his choice of hitman too, he thinks shallowly. Beyond a surprisingly low level of nerves or fear, Cassian feels curiosity, especially piqued by the man’s gorgeous face. He wears a crisp white suit, tracing his body in all the right places, a great distraction to any target, surely. He looks nearly too good to be real and Cassian would have half pushed the blame for that onto the strong liquor still in his hand, but the glass isn’t missing more than a mere sip.

The man doesn’t react under Cassian’s scrutiny, but pushes off the desk in a fluid motion, ready to shoot at will. He stares Cassian down a moment, almost waiting for a fight.

“Wait,” Cassian hears himself say – and to his astonishment the man pauses. “Who are you?” he asks, instead of making any plea for his life.

The gunman furrows his brow at the question. He seems to have expected an argument more than the inquiry.

“Your worst nightmare,” he says in a somewhat sarcastic tone, as if it isn’t obvious. Cassian smirks at the line.

“Any last requests, Andor?” The man continues, almost like he cares.

Cassian pauses, taking another long look at the man sent to kill him, admiring the deep dark eyes and the short, soft looking hair – maybe a bit too short to dig one’s hands in – the unwavering hold of his gun and the contrast of red lips against the black night sky behind him. He can only think of one thing and dares to ask outright.

“Yes,” Cassian says, the corners of his mouth turning up. “One date, then you can shoot me.”

The man stands stock still for a moment, looking at Cassian with interest and a hint of something more. He lowers the gun with a smile.

\---

At first Bodhi can’t believe the gall of the man.

He wonders if the bravery is chalked up to the filled tumbler in his hand or whether that just contributes to natural cockiness. Taking in his soft features in the moonlight, the expectant flirtatious glint in his eyes, Bodhi finds it hard to concentrate and even harder to remember the reasons why it’s a terrible idea.

“I suppose one date with a dead man couldn’t hurt,” he says. It’s a neat justification.

Andor laughs with an intoxicating smile playing at his lips.

“Let’s go then, no time like the present.”

\---

“How did you know I wouldn’t shoot you on the spot?” Bodhi asks, taking a sip of his drink.

He still doesn’t quite know what to make of the man. Cassian Andor is a mafia big-name, he's cunning and he's dangerous, that he knows. And yet, Bodhi feels intrigued, wondering what kind of person would put his life further into danger for a brief flirtation instead of trying to defend himself.

Bodhi sets his glass down and leans further over the diner table. “What made you take the chance?”

Cassian just casually picks up a piece of his questionable diner food, like they aren’t talking about an attempt on his life. “You’re not that kind of person.”

“What makes you think that?” Bodhi asks, surprised by how sure Cassian seems. “You don’t know me. I make a living by taking lives, after all.”

Cassian looks straight at Bodhi, sounding more honest than he’d expected.

“Your eyes. They told me.”

Bodhi raises an eyebrow. “My eyes? How so?” He’s heard his fair share of cheap come-ons but isn’t yet sure if that’s what this is.

“They’re still alive,” Cassian says after a moment, and then continues, strikingly more candid. “I know the look of men who’ve lost their own values. It used to greet me in the mirror.”

Bodhi blinks, surprised by the answer. It isn’t what he’d expected, cutting too close to home. He swallows, buying himself time to stomach the thought. He still has to wonder what the man’s angle is. “Are you saying I’m a good person? That you are?”

Cassian’s chuckle is accompanied by a smile, though it never makes it all the way to his eyes. “I run a crime syndicate, I’m far from being a good person. I’m just saying personal values are all we have.”

“I suppose you're right,” he answers, “don't think you're off the hook, though.” It’s a poor attempt at trying to get back the previous mood, but somehow it works.

Cassian’s smile turns sincere, playful even. “I'd never.”

Bodhi tries to remember this is still a job, even as he finds himself smiling back.

“If this is my last night, let me at least enjoy it a little.” Cassian turns to order them a new round of drinks. It isn’t any better than the first, but for some reason Bodhi doesn’t mind.

Not even when Cassian’s knee nudges his under the table. “Want to get out of here?”

\---

When Cassian finally kisses the assassin, _Bodhi_ , the air is heady between them. The cab’s headlights have yet to fade in the distance when they stumble through his door, too busy with exploring hands and mouths to care where they’re going. They push and pull at each other and it’s intoxicating. He can almost forget the circumstances that have brought them together. They both strip, craving closeness and panting with the sheer want between them until they both see stars.

Wrapped around the man after he wonders if Bodhi will really make good on his word and finish his job. He’s met far colder men and committed his fair share of sins. Even as their bodies brush together, he still doesn’t know Bodhi, not really. All he knows is that there’s something about him that draws Cassian in, so much that he lies there still, possibly risking his life. Cassian doesn’t plan to fall asleep after, he doesn’t think Bodhi had either, even as his breath evens out. With the man curled unconscious in his arms, he supposes they’ve both let their guard down.

He shuts his eyes and hopes that Bodhi will at least let him have a cup of coffee before he shoots him in the morning.

\---

Bodhi doesn’t shoot Cassian when first wakes up, not after the night out where he’d laughed for the first time in so long. He lies tangled in Cassian’s sheets and watches the other man sleep, feeling the weight of the mistake in how beautiful Cassian still looks. He tries to shake it off and finish what he started nevertheless, slipping out of Cassian’s arms and padding across the cold floor to get his gun. The weapon weighs heavy in his hand and he knows he should just end it. It would be quick, merciful even, considering the kinds of people Krennic could send in his stead.

He’s never had a problem carrying out a hit. He operates within the criminal underworld, none of his targets were ever innocent and society never missed any of them, pulling the trigger was easy.

Until now, apparently. Fragments of last night shamelessly pop into his head and make him hesitate, reminding him that this man he’s supposed to eliminate is somehow different than the usual target. Bodhi grits his teeth. Who would’ve guessed a fucking dinner conversation over greasy fries and lukewarm beer would still his hand.

He takes a deep breath, trying to settle the pain in his chest and just get it over with.

Before he can get up the nerve to take the shot, Cassian’s eyes slide open, squinting blearily at the spray of light just peeking through the blinds. He sees Bodhi standing there and only sighs, seemingly nonplussed by the gun in his hand.

“Come back to bed,” he says, and what little resolve Bodhi has built up melts away.

Bodhi uses the request to justify waiting as he lays the gun down carefully and slides back into bed. Without protest, he settles back into the mattress and lets Cassian throw an arm over his stomach, drawing him impossibly closer.

He relaxes into the touch and falls back asleep with the gun resting on the bedside as a reminder, thinking, _‘Later’_.

\---

Later comes and goes in the morning light.

Bodhi finds himself standing on Cassian’s doorstep, exchanging kisses with him like they’re giddy teenagers. He has to force himself to pull away, eyes blown with want at the sight of Cassian so rumpled from his ministrations, hair wild and not greased back.

“The date’s long over,” he says, pressing a hand against Cassian’s chest, readying himself to reach for the gun at his hip.

“We should go on another,” Cassian answers, eyes alight despite the gravity of their situation. “One more and you can shoot me, I promise.”

Bodhi bites his lip, thinking of the repercussions only for a moment before shaking them off.

“I somehow have trouble seeing you as a man of your word,” Bodhi says, wishing that he could just do this last job like he’d meant to. Instead he feels foolishly charmed.

“You’ll have to wait and see,” Cassian murmurs, drawing Bodhi close again.

As his lips move blissfully against Cassian’s he supposes one more date can’t hurt.

\---

One date turns into two. Then three. Then ten. Until Bodhi loses count.

It becomes a thing they do, words always repeated as Bodhi tries time and time again to get this thing with Cassian out of his system. The promise turns into a constant at the end of each and the words slowly change their meaning, going from threat to affectionate inside joke. Spoken time after time over coffee on the balcony of Cassian’s apartment, in between heated kisses on the packed dance floor, or after yet another dinner at the shady little diner on 58th where no one knows their names.

“The food was really good tonight, so I’ll let you off for now,” Bodhi says with a hint of humor. He’s not sure whether he’s just teasing or not, feeling more and more a masochist as time goes on. “But after the next date, Andor, I swear.”

Cassian laces his fingers with Bodhi and answers without hesitation.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

\---

Krennic’s people take notice, of course, wondering why the hit is taking so long to complete.

Bodhi makes excuses, says security around Cassian is far tighter than in truth and makes the promise that he still means to follow through. They take the lie easily, too caught up in other affairs to care. For once Bodhi is glad for their inefficiency. After years of being screwed over by Krennic and seeing how little he cares about his own people he’s come to hate the man in all honesty. Not completing the hit is at least a fuck you to Krennic, even if Bodhi does feel a bit beholden that he’d accepted the job.

The fact that Cassian is the polar opposite of Krennic just makes the hit all the harder. He’s tracked Cassian for a while now, often enough seen him come and go to notice some of his character traits. Cassian throws himself into everything for the people working with him and they all trust him for that. He acts as noble as one could in his line of work, even if it means making dangerous choices. Bodhi can’t help but admire that.

Bodhi walks back to his car from the dry cleaner and realizes he’s thinking about Cassian too much, too much to pretend he’s just a normal, postponed hit – somehow this man with the fearless smile and gentle hands has managed to get under his skin. Before it gets too loud, he chokes off the voice in his head that whispers he’s becoming emotionally compromised.

He’s just put his stuff in the backseat when, as if by fate, he sees Cassian walking down the street across from him. To his surprise, Bodhi feels half annoyed that Cassian doesn’t notice him too, clearly not looking out for himself in the slightest. In the spur of the moment he decides to follow him. He trails along carefully from a distance, making sure Cassian won’t see him, sticking to the shadows when they reach an abandoned building at the end of the road. Bodhi knows this must be about business and he’s glad for the gun in his jacket holster, just in case. He watches amused as Cassian meets up with his right-hand man and waits for someone to arrive.

\---

When Cassian catches sight of Bodhi, it's just out of the periphery at first.

They wait for a buyer that seems to have no intention of showing up and he’s busy telling Kay to stop hovering and go patrol or whatever else necessary to get out of his hair, when he spots the flash of a familiar figure in the shadows.

After his right-hand man is out of sight, gone ahead already, Bodhi slides fully out of the darkness and comes to greet him. Cassian feels the anticipation run up his spine and wonders if the hitman is there for business or pleasure, his body already straining with hope for the latter.

His hope is rewarded when they end up pressed against one another. He feels the press of Bodhi's gun at his side as they kiss and still feels nothing but excitement. The fact that the meeting hadn't been planned adds a secret thrill that a therapist would probably call a death wish.

“I thought I was promised a bullet, not a kiss.” Cassian pants when they pull apart to breathe a moment. “Not that I’m complaining.”

“Well, I changed my mind.” Bodhi shrugs and wraps Cassian’s tie around his fingers, drawing him in again. “I’m not in the mood for getting rid of a body tonight.” A smirk filters across his face. “After the next date.”

They only let go of each other when Kay comes around the corner and Bodhi vanishes into the shadows again. The hitman and the mafia boss. That doesn’t need to make the news just yet.

\---

Bodhi notes how much more frequently they meet after that night, accidentally or otherwise. Cassian never pushes him away, only drags him in deeper. At some point Bodhi stops wondering how long this will go on.

After falling into bed together for the umpteenth time and waking up tangled in each other most mornings things almost start to feel domestic.

Cassian nudges him over in bed, lightly pressing a kiss into his shoulder. Bodhi can tell Cassian is staring, sees the man looking at him with a dopey grin and lifts a hand to flip him off. Cassian huffs a laugh, sliding his foot against Bodhi’s calf, and Bodhi feels more relaxed than he’s ever had any right to be.

“What, not gonna shoot me? Was it that good?” Cassian asks teasingly.

Bodhi wants to be annoyed but somehow isn’t.

“Shut your mouth, Andor. Next time you’re done.” He can’t help but smile as he says it, pressing forward to kiss him as punctuation.

“Too bad, I was hoping you’d do me right now.”

Bodhi rolls his eyes but rises to the bait, moving to straddle Cassian and basking in the heat of his gaze.

“Just remember you asked for it.”

Cassian’s laugh is muffled by Bodhi’s mouth on his.

\---

“Where were you last night?” Kay asks one morning while sitting behind the wheel. He glances over at Cassian in the passenger seat, looking suspicious. “I stopped at your place to give you last month’s reports, but you weren’t there.”

Cassian wishes his caffeine had more time to kick in before Kay starts to interrogate him, having only just left the place the Alliance uses to launder money. It's useful their front is an old bakery, but even the strongest brew can't compete with Kay’s persistency. “I was busy,” he says deflecting.

Kay fixes him with an unimpressed look. “Yes, sure, I believe that.” He doesn't. Not at all.

“Cassian, you need to stop going off on your own. I know this is what we used to do, but things have changed. You are no longer just a foot soldier in the Alliance, this group would be headless without you.” Kay sighs. “When will you finally listen and get a bodyguard?”

“I don’t need a bodyguard, I’m perfectly fine on my own. And just for the record, I wasn’t alone.”

“So… Who were you with then?” Kay asks, sounding irritated by the half answer.

Cassian knows he probably shouldn’t say, _‘The hot hitman I found in my office, instead of shooting me, he fucked me. We’ve been doing that for a few months now, worked out better than I’d planned.’_

Instead he just says, “Someone.”

“That is… very accurate.” Kay rolls his eyes. “Why do I even bother.”

To be honest, Cassian thinks that term is very accurate, indeed. Because he has no idea who or what Bodhi really is to him.

At first he might have just taken advantage of the situation. Sleeping with Bodhi had seemed like a much better option than getting shot by him. Not to mention the thrill it had given Cassian. There was something incredibly intoxicating to the idea that he’d managed to seduce his own personal grim reaper. He’d felt like he’d cheated death and even gotten a prize for it. A very attractive, quick-witted prize.

What he did not expect was that this feeling would soon change and the thrill become replaced by something Cassian doesn’t dare putting into words yet. He only knows this something has held him back from turning the tables and shooting the man sent to kill him at the first possible opportunity like he is well aware he should have.

“Because you care,” Cassian replies to Kay’s sarcasm. He refuses to consider this might apply to him as well and gives his right hand man a quick pat on the shoulder. “Now come on, we got a job to do.”

\---

Bodhi has been shadowing Cassian from a distance for a while when he notices a shift in the atmosphere, how Cassian’s body language goes tense.

He knows negotiations have gone sideways when he sees guns draw. He’s reaching for his own gun before the bullets even start to ricochet and still finds himself caught in the firefight, tracking Cassian as much as he can while covering himself. It’s a sloppy fight and Bodhi can’t imagine what it’s even about that could be worth the effort. In the midst of it he’s glad he came to watch out despite Cassian’s protests.

As much as Cassian would love to shoot to the last man, Bodhi grabs him and runs when things get out of hand, trusting whoever else was there with Cassian to do the same. They’re lucky Jabba’s associates are young and dumb, eager to leave when they lose sight of him and Cassian.

Bodhi tries to catch his breath, leaning back against the fire escape ladder they’d just climbed down. Not for the first time he wonders how Cassian has stayed alive this long, acting so competent and yet so unendingly reckless.

Bodhi pushes Cassian against the bricks, rough even as his eyes glance over Cassian’s body, checking for injuries. There’s a tear in his suit that looks suspiciously like it was made by a bullet scraping past. It doesn’t sit well with his stomach.

When he looks up, Cassian is smirking. God, he hates that look.

Cassian opens his mouth but Bodhi cuts him off with lips and teeth, hot with adrenaline and unwilling to hear whatever smug declaration Cassian had planned. Licking viciously into Cassian’s mouth, he revels in the man’s moan and wonders when it will stop being so satisfying to take him apart.

\---

As the adrenaline high of the shootout fades, Cassian finds he’s made it back to his apartment. While he’d kicked off his shoes and strode into the living room, Bodhi already settled onto his couch, legs crossed and now watching Cassian loosen his tie.

Cassian cocks his head and looks at him, he’d nearly seemed a little peeved about having to drag Cassian’s ass away from the flying bullets. Had he been shot while dealing with his own business, it would have meant less work for Bodhi, after all. He can’t see the point in Bodhi endangering his own life to protect Cassian only to take it later as he continues to promise. Cassian hates himself for jumping to any hasty conclusions but is still unable to shake off the faint hope that Bodhi, too, might be more invested in this thing between them than he lets on.

Turning away and banning the thought for now, Cassian shrugs off his jacket and gives it a quick inspection. He recalls something scraping past him, and really, there’s a tear in it that definitely wasn’t there before. He lets out a soft curse.

“Shit.” It's not like he doesn’t have replacement. But still. “I liked that jacket.”

A low chuckle comes from the couch.

“The jacket’s the only issue you have?” Bodhi shakes his head and leans forward, eyes watching Cassian more closely. Curious. “How did you even get into this?” 

“Hell, I wonder too,” Cassian says and flings the jacket over the back of the couch. It’s wrecked anyway. “Our offer was good, but apparently not good enough. Greedy bastards.”

“No, I mean this..." Bodhi gestures with his hands around him. "This life, this everything?”

Cassian stops dead in his tracks.

Maybe he shouldn’t answer. Shouldn’t bare open that part of himself. He knows doing so would mean admitting to know how hard he’s already fallen, most of all to himself. It’s not a step to be taken casually. Still he's found himself wanting to know more about Bodhi and if he lets himself answer, this might be Cassian’s chance for a bit of give and take.

Cassian gets a stumpy, squared glass bottle from his top shelf, together with two glasses. He sets one down in front of Bodhi, the other before himself. He fills both about an inch deep. “I guess you could say I grew into it,” he says finally, screwing the cap back on. He puts the bottle back in its place and settles next to Bodhi, then takes a sip from his glass and watches Bodhi reach for his own to do the same.

“I've been running stuff for them since I was a kid and... well... after my parents died, I had nowhere else to go. Our former head, he offered to take me in and," Cassian scoffs, "a six year-old doesn't think too hard about who it is that gives him food and shelter.”

His brows knit together as he remembers parts of himself he’d rather keep in a locked drawer in the far end of his mind. His place in the organization had been clear. They’d needed someone to carry out unspoken orders and discretely take care all unpleasantries that might occur. At the age other kids started high-school, he already knew seven different ways to get a man to tell the truth without even making much of a mess.

“No, they really don't." Bodhi swirls the contents of his glass, staring at the tiny whirl that appears. "But then again, a fifteen-year-old without a family and whose only real talents are a precise vision and steady fingers doesn't make any better choices.”

Bodhi’s free hand moves to his side where his holster is hidden by his jacket. Maybe it’s a subconscious act, Cassian doesn’t know. His fingers shortly curl into the dark fabric before he continues.

“It was never meant to be permanent, and you? You were supposed to..." Bodhi trails off and shakes his head as if to sober up. Though the swallow of brandy he takes probably counteracts any efforts made. "Forget it,” he says, setting back the near empty glass.

He leans back and turns at Cassian.

Cassian meets his eyes and nods. Something has changed between them.

\---

Cassian meets Bodhi down the block from his office, not caring if it’s risky. Kay had found out about the two of them a week earlier, by Cassian’s own drunken admission if he has to be honest. He’d been less than thrilled, but unsurprised, and Cassian doesn’t much care anymore if anyone else in the Alliance now sees them together .

When Bodhi kisses him beneath the streetlight, it’s past ten at night. Cassian had been busy working out a situation with an old partner. He feels warmed by the fact that Bodhi waited for him. So much that he lets another piece of his armor fall away with an offer. Bodhi turns toward the car already, but Cassian grabs his hand and pulls him back down the road toward the old bakery instead.

“C’mon, I want to take you somewhere.”

The place is closed by now, of course, but Cassian knows where the key is. Chirrut and Baze are probably awake still too. He jingles the bell above the door to alert them of his presence and it takes only a moment for Chirrut to appear out front.

“I know I’m blind, but I’m pretty sure we’re closed, Cassian… and friend?” Chirrut says, tilting his head.

Bodhi raises an eyebrow, probably surprised to have been noticed.

Cassian grins.

“I’ll be sure to pay you some overtime. This is Bodhi,” he says, leaning against the counter.

Chirrut puts a hand out and Bodhi takes it easily, shaking hands. “Is this the same Bodhi I’ve heard Kay complaining about recently?” he asks with a smirk.

“Oh, I’m sure he has,” Bodhi answers with a quick glance to Cassian.

“And you’ve been keeping him busy,” Chirrut says, clearly teasing with innuendo, always a menace.

“You could say that.” Bodhi smiles, it seems like he appreciates Chirrut’s humor at least.

“I’m going to have a chat with Kay about whatever gossip he’s been spreading down here. Where’s your other half, anyway?” Cassian asks, knowing Baze is more sensible.

Chirrut takes the staff he's always carrying and turns in direction of the bakery entrance. “Inside. I should get him out here, how else will I know what this one looks like,” he agrees with a wink.

As if on cue, Baze shows at the door. “Leave the boy alone, Chirrut, you’re embarrassing him.”

Bodhi smiles even wider at that.

Cassian introduces Bodhi and Baze does what he usually does when meeting new people, stares Bodhi down, assessing for a moment, before they shake hands. Bodhi doesn’t seem phased by the judgment and Baze seems pleased by that.

“What does he look like Baze?” Chirrut asks, unable to let him alone.

“He’s a little shorter than Cassian, he looks like he resents that comment. He has big doe eyes and tan skin. That’s as much as you’re getting,” he says gruff but placating.

“I’m sure Cassian would have described him more poetically,” Chirrut complains.

Cassian rolls his eyes as Bodhi snorts. “Okay okay, that’s enough. I really just came here for some of Baze’s pastries, not for a trial,” he says.

Baze bends down into the display case and brings out two eclairs, Cassian’s favorite. “Unless you want something different?”

Cassian looks to Bodhi who seems charmed by the entire interaction. “No, it looks amazing,” he says, flashing a smile to Baze.

“We may be a front but my husband really does bake well,” Chirrut says proudly.

Baze shrugs in response.

Chirrut insists they sit and stay a while, so they all shuffle into the booth by the window and talk.

Conversation is easy, mostly consisting of Chirrut telling embarrassing stories about Cassian much to Bodhi’s amusement. They had been there for so much of Cassian’s life that there is plenty of material. Baze had been the one who taught him how to shoot his first gun and Chirrut had shown him how to read people’s tells. With Draven gone, they are all he has left of his childhood, as flawed as it was, and he’ll always feel grateful to them for not leaving him.

He doesn’t realize until after they’re back at his place that it was as close to an introduction to the family as it’s going to get, hitting him full force when Bodhi jokes and tells him his dads are nice.

Cassian laughs off the comment but can’t help notice how off it makes him feel. As much as they’ve been playing house, he knows thinking of them in terms of anything more would be venturing into dangerous territory. A serious relationship is the last thing Bodhi wants with him and it’s the last thing Cassian would offer. They are who they are and it leaves very little room for daydreams of security. He wishes he could stop thinking so deeply on the subject. He shouldn’t. Like Bodhi said, _‘it’s not permanent’._

Nothing in this life could be with the things he’s seen and done.

Beside him, Bodhi shifts in his sleep and Cassian slides closer in an effort to push the thoughts from his mind. He falls asleep trying to at least enjoy what he does have and not wonder when it might end.

\---

“Cassian, have you seen the documents on the Senator’s–”

Cassian is groaning into Bodhi’s shoulder, bracing himself back against the desk, when Kay walks in and breaks off mid-sentence. Cassian half wants to yell, half wants to laugh, but he doesn’t push Bodhi away even as he stills. He figures Kay will take the hint and go, but the man only sighs and covers his eyes at the scene.

“You know, some people have crime syndicates to run,” he says pointedly.

Cassian feels his face heat even more, fixing Kay with a glare even though the man isn’t looking, for obvious reasons.

“Not now, Kay!” He shouts over Bodhi’s shoulder and Bodhi suppresses a laugh into Cassian’s neck.

“Just hurry up, we do have a meeting planned, after all. Join us when you’re done.” Kay’s voice is astoundingly calm when he finally turns to leave, considering the compromising position he’s just found his boss and friend in. Though he repays them for the unwanted imagery by adding, “And maybe wear some clothes.”

Bodhi grins at how affronted Cassian looks at the interruption and sets to kiss away the look on his face. They melt back into each other soon after the intrusion, like they have all the time in the world despite the warning.

Cassian doesn’t make it to the meeting. He doesn’t even mind the earful he gets for it.

\---

Straightening his tie and fixing a mismatched button, Bodhi leaves Alliance Headquarters.

He only makes it a few steps away from the entrance when he hears someone coming up behind him, and in one well-practiced move Bodhi turns around, pointing his trusted Beretta at whoever was stupid enough to try and sneak up on him.

In return, he finds himself with Jyn Erso’s gun barrel shoved into his face.

“I see we understand each other,” she says, lowering the gun after their momentary standoff. “Come with me.” Her tone leaves no room for argument and Bodhi follows.

She leads him into an alleyway between the Alliance office and the old bakery used to launder money and he figures if she wanted to shoot him outright she’d have chosen a more discreet location.

Jyn leans against the wall, apparently not minding the dirt all over it, and stares him down with a long, scrutinizing look. She hasn’t been in the group for long, Bodhi only knows some basic parts of her story, but it’s enough to know Jyn is very devoted, loyal to the group and Cassian - something about family honour - and not to be taken lightly.

“I did some research,” she says after what must be a full minute. “Asked around if anyone knew your name. Do you want to guess what I found out?”

Bodhi is silent, face betraying nothing. He doesn’t need to guess, he knows already.

“You’re a hired gun. And you’re on the payroll of Orson Krennic. Imagine my surprise.” Jyn cocks her head and Bodhi can’t really tell if the pondering look on her face is real or not. “But somehow you don’t seem very interested in doing your job.”

“I am done with that and I am done with Krennic.” Bodhi hopes she can read the sincerity in his words that he’s so unused to showing.

“Apparently so,” Jyn says. “I heard you pulled Cassian out of that firefight. He always thinks he can do everything on his own. It would be good to have someone look out for him...” She pauses, eyes scanning him for a second time before concluding, “I think I’ll decide to trust you for the moment.”

Jyn pushes off of the wall and slowly comes toward him. Suddenly her gun is back in her hands and she uses it to tap against Bodhi’s cheek. “But. don’t. break. my. trust.”

Bodhi meets her eyes. His look doesn’t waver as he says, “I would rather kill myself than hurt Cassian.”

He is surprised by his own words. Surprised that they sound so natural and are as easy to admit as breathing. Maybe because they’re true.

Jyn seems satisfied with his answer. She puts her own gun back in the holster around her waist and turns to leave.

“Good,” she says.

Bodhi nods. “Good.”

And that’s that. They never speak of it again.

\---

With Jyn’s words as a reminder Bodhi keeps an ear to the ground to try and predict Krennic’s movements, to see if he will bother coming back to finish the job Bodhi failed.

No one else is sent after Cassian though and, after a while, Bodhi starts to feel less on edge. The Empire has gone quiet, seemingly caught up in red tape due to the new sanctions from Senator Organa. While he’s sure they aren’t out of the game for good, it does mean Krennic might let both him and Cassian off the hook to focus on bigger things for now. In light of this hope, Bodhi tries to enjoy life in this worryingly real, if not-official, relationship arrangement.

He wakes up and Cassian isn’t in bed with him. He doesn’t panic though, hearing faint clattering from the kitchen. He walks down the hall and still half asleep watches from the kitchen doorway as Cassian putters around, making breakfast. Cassian hums along to the radio, absentmindedly folding together an omelette until he notices Bodhi watching and grins.

“Hey,” he says as Bodhi comes into the room fully, standing close to Cassian.

Bodhi kisses him on the neck once and watches Cassian carefully slide the spatula beneath the egg to see if it’s ready. There is another omelette already plated on the counter and Bodhi steals a small piece before Cassian can stop him. It’s delicious and he can’t help feeling a bit surprised, Cassian had never cooked before.

“This isn’t half bad,” he teases.

Cassian seems pleased by the compliment anyway. He smirks at Bodhi and pulls the plate out of his reach, taking a piece himself.

“It’s the best and you know it.”

“A bit full of yourself, aren’t you,” Bodhi huffs, but makes another attempt for the food.

In turn, Cassian pushes the plate behind his back and stands before it. “If you want it, come get it.”

Bodhi looks at him for a second, feeling the corners of his mouth turn upward, then decides to accept the challenge. It really is a damn good omelette.

It only takes one broken plate and cooked egg on both their clothes, but to Bodhi’s surprise they actually end up sitting at the table like civilized people. They even talk. Normal breakfast talk. About local drug cartels, arms smuggling and weapons trade. Cassian’s feet are hooked around his under the table and Bodhi feels at ease. If things could stay like this, maybe, he thinks he could be genuinely happy.

It’s only a deceptive calm though. The call he’d been dreading finally comes in nearly two months after Bodhi reneged on his assignment. Said assignment that currently dumps dirty plates in the sink as the caller id flashes on.

Bodhi sees the familiar flash of numbers on the caller id and his stomach drops, knowing he has to take the call. He quickly grabs his phone - maybe a little too quickly. If Cassian notices anything is off, he doesn’t comment on it, only nodding as Bodhi excuses himself and vanishes onto the balcony to answer.

The caller isn’t Krennic - this being apparently too low of a task and not worthy of his time - but the lackey’s voice warns that if Cassian isn’t dead soon, they will send someone else to finish the job, and if Bodhi dares to get in the way they might just shoot him too.

Bodhi doesn’t answer to the threat, calculating through his options quickly and trying to sound confident as he requests a meeting with Krennic. The caller sounds a bit taken aback and puts Bodhi on hold, clearly consulting some higher ups before answering.

“You can meet him tonight at seven, you know where. Don’t be late.” Then the line goes dead.

The rest of the day is a blur, Cassian goes to work and Bodhi tries to get his affairs in order, on edge and wondering how things will play out.

Night falls and the drive out to Krennic’s is uneventful and Bodhi half wonders if it’s a joke, if he’ll be shot on sight for his past impudence. When he sees Krennic though, the man does nothing, just stares Bodhi down with ire from behind his desk until he finally speaks.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you,” he says. “I noticed you were playing with your food but let it slid. After all, you’ve never disappointed me before. But now it’s come to my attention that Andor is still irritatingly alive and been in the middle of some ruckus downtown. So tell me, why shouldn’t I kill you and get someone else to finish your job?”

So Bodhi was right to suspect. They weren’t off the hook. He fixes Krennic with a look and shrugs coolly.

“Go ahead if that’s what you really want, but - I can get you your money back,” Bodhi says with all the confidence he can muster.

The words make Krennic merely raise an eyebrow. “Why would you do that for me, what’s in it for you?”

Bodhi is surprised that, apparently, his client didn’t yet realize how stupidly deep he’s got himself in, but he’s sure he will from his answer.

“Don’t kill Andor, it was a stupid mistake of him to steal from you and… he won’t do it again if I ask.” The last part is a bluff he’s never discussed with Cassian. Cassian, who doesn’t even know he’s here.

It’s a needed incentive though, and Krennic smiles sickly at the offer.

“Although I’d take great pleasure in seeing him die,” he sneers, and anger floods Bodhi’s body, “I suppose that’s a fair offer.”

Bodhi has worked with Krennic before and guesses Krennic just might see a tactical advantage in this to skirt the gang war while having his losses recouped. Krennic has always been a shameless opportunist.

“I’ll have the money to you by morning,” Bodhi says, fighting the urge to bite out an insult and instead offering a hand which Krennic takes in his grip to shake on the deal.

“I’ll call off the hit, you can go now,” he says.

Just a few hours later, Bodhi withdraws the money from his offshore savings and silently transfers it. His burner phone buzzes, the word _‘received’_ the final mention of the deal.

\---

With Krennic officially off their backs, Bodhi starts to feel more at home in Cassian’s place than his own.

He realizes it full force one morning as he lies in bed lazily, waiting for Cassian to come back from the shower. He’d wanted to join him but Cassian begged off, saying they’d be there all day if he did. Bodhi could only smirk. Now loathing the thought of getting dressed, he wonders what Cassian would do if he barged in anyway. How fast he could get him off and still send him off to work on time. He smiles to himself at the thought but stays in bed, wondering when he became this ridiculous person. Last night Cassian had cooked them dinner, only burning dessert as they made out against the fridge. He’d thought by now the relationship would be long over, or at least, that he would feel less of a spark.

The adjacent door opens and he hears his own soft intake of breath at the sight of Cassian, shower slicked and gorgeous.

Cassian grins and jokes, “You ever going to get out of my bed?”

He comes closer, just out of Bodhi’s reach. The towel clings tight against his waist and Bodhi wishes he’d just drop it.

He decides to try his luck again, to lure Cassian back into his arms. He lowers his voice to the seductive tone he knows drives Cassian crazy. “Depends, can I convince you to get back in?”

Cassian shakes his head at first, but falters when Bodhi bites his lip and slides the sheet that was covering him off onto the floor. Cassian at least looks conflicted before he drops the towel and gives in.

“Kay is really going to hate you,” he says between kisses and Bodhi laughs.

“Luckily Kay’s not the one keeping me around,” he answers, drawing him in again.

An hour later he’s falling back asleep against Cassian’s chest when the knocking comes loud at the door, followed by a disgruntled call. Bodhi only buries his face further into Cassian’s neck.

“Cassian, I know you’re in there!” Comes the voice, void of humor.

Cassian sighs.

“I warned you,” he whispers to Bodhi before calling out, “Sorry, Kay, I know, I’ll be out in a minute, you can wait in the car!”

Kay laughs, though it’s clear he’s not amused. Not even a little. “I’m not falling for that again, get dressed and get out here. I’m not moving until you do.”

“Someday I’ll find out how he got that key...” Cassian mutters some much less than polite words but does move to get up at last and Bodhi sighs at the loss of his warmth.

“I should just come with you,” he says.

Cassian shoots him a look. “We’ve talked about this.”

Bodhi knows they have, of course, how Cassian put his foot down on the last thing and Bodhi had followed anyway. It was one of their first real fights and the point apparently still stood. Bodhi didn’t understand why Cassian acted this way when he knew Bodhi could handle himself.

“We wouldn’t have to if you weren’t so reckless,” Bodhi responds stubbornly.

Cassian doesn’t argue further, instead acting too focused on getting dressed which only makes Bodhi more frustrated.

Without spending his nights staking out targets or being midst negotiations with some underworld big-name, he figures he might also use his newfound abundance of time well and at least make sure a certain mobster doesn’t get into unnecessary trouble if he still refuses to delegate all legwork. The problem is that Cassian is just as headstrong as Bodhi when it comes to keeping Bodhi from getting sucked too deep into the group’s dealings.

Cassian takes sight of his annoyed look and comes over and to kiss the frown from his lips. Bodhi is frustrated at being shut up so easily but melts into the kiss anyway, deciding he’ll let Cassian have his way, for now. He’s kept him too long already.

As if on cue the harsh knocking starts up again from Kay.

“How long does it take to get dressed?” he asks perturbed through the door.

Bodhi laughs.

“It might longer if I just undress him again right now!” He calls out jokingly as Kay squawks.

Cassian smiles down at him, kissing him lightly one last time. “Play nice,” he says, actually ready to go this time, then he’s out the door.

Bodhi is pretty sure Kay catches an eyeful of him laid out on the bed from the angry comments he hears as the door shuts.

As all things go, he’s happy, getting up and stretching before going to shower and use of all of Cassian’s expensive shampoo.

\---

Days later, Cassian is off meeting the head of another group out of town.

On a whim Bodhi goes to the headquarters anyway, all that waiting around for Cassian makes him feel like a bored housewife. He’d planned on just poking around, maybe find a small job to keep himself busy, when he runs into Kay, surprisingly alone.

“Why didn’t you go with Cassian?” Bodhi asks.

Kay waits a moment before answering, then apparently decides Bodhi already knows enough.

“There’s a pickup that’s overdue,” he explains. “Cassian would have gone himself, but since he can’t, I’m doing it.”

“A pickup?” Bodhi repeats. “Where?”

“Down the West End.”

Well, he’s been looking for something to do anyway. Bodhi looks from the Alliance building behind them back at Kay.

“I’ll come with you, if you don’t mind.”

Kay gives him a close look and cocks his head at Bodhi.

“Cassian doesn’t like that if I remember correctly.” Bodhi holds his stare and then Kay shrugs and turns around toward his car. “But you’re an adult and it’s not my duty to keep you from anything. What Cassian doesn’t know... so, sure.”

The pickup is a pretty boring task and it’s no wonder Cassian left it to Kay on his own. They sit in the car waiting for the drop off to arrive after receiving a text confirming the location. It’s one of the same old buildings by the dock that he’d been to with Cassian and Bodhi actually has quite a few fond memories there, not that he could mention any of them to Kay. They sit in relative silence, Kay fiddling with the radio to listen to some news broadcast about the local elections coming up. The intoning voices have Bodhi mostly zoning out when Kay speaks out of nowhere.

“Why are you with him?” he asks, blunt where others would have minced words.

Bodhi raises an eyebrow, he had been half expecting this interrogation when Kay first found out. He wonders if he should tell the man Jyn beat him to the punch. He tries not to sound flippant but still resents the somewhat accusing tone of his words.

“Why are you?” he asks back, only for Kay to look unimpressed.

“Statistically, he would die without me,” Kay says, as if stating some mundane fact and giving no hint of himself away.

Bodhi can’t help the huff of laughter.

“He still might, I’ve seen how close some of the fights he gets himself into are.”

Kay sighs at the comment.

“That’s why I need to know _why_ you’re still here. He needs someone to look out for him and for some reason you’re the only one he wants around.”

Bodhi leans his elbow against the window before turning at Kay. If it were anyone else, he would think Kay was jealous, but it’s clearly something else. He knows from experience what a toll being so loyal to Cassian can take when he keeps taking risks.

“Are you offering me a job?” he asks, knowing that Cassian had ruled out having a bodyguard, deeming it absurd to put someone else’s life over his when he was perfectly capable. God, he was frustrating.

“I wish,” Kay answers frustrated and Bodhi doesn’t know what to make of that.

The drop off man finally shows up a half an hour later than the time they’d discussed.

Bodhi stands at Kay’s side as extra muscle just in case they try anything. As much as he knows Kay could have handled the whole transaction himself, it feels good to be needed again, to slip back into a role he could do so easily. Much easier than thinking about his useless feelings. He weighs Kay’s anxiety against his own, wonders if Cassian would ever take him seriously if he did offer to be his bodyguard and knows what a fight it would likely be. He wishes Cassian would let him in and stop pretending to be invulnerable all the time.

They finish the job and when Kay admits he didn’t hate having Bodhi around, letting it show he’s welcome to join him again, Bodhi doesn’t say no. He’ll find an arrangement with Cassian, somehow. Maybe he can convince Kay to keep his mouth shut until he finds a moment to talk to him.

 _‘You’re the only one he wants around,’_ Kay had said. The words run through Bodhi’s mind warmly as he sees the smile spread on Cassian’s face when he spots him across the crowded restaurant. He wishes he weren’t such a coward to just tell Cassian he felt the same.

\---

Cassian is in the middle of going through a stash of paperwork – even in their field of business that’s a necessary evil – when he hears it. The earth-shattering boom, the windows bursting in the building right next to the Alliance headquarters as the explosion covers the street in dust and smoke and rubble.

Jyn bursts in only minutes later, the door bouncing back off the wall again with the ferocity it was slammed open. She must come directly from the scene, her clothes still give off the smell of second-hand smoke.

“The...bakery!” She’s gasping for air, apparently having run up the stairs instead of taking the elevator. He moves close and she grabs his hand, clearly shaken. He’s never seen Jyn like this and it makes him feel even more uneasy.

“Baze and Chirrut?” Cassian asks, trying to keep calm, at least superficially. He grits his teeth.

An explosion this close to the Alliance can only mean Krennic hasn’t forgotten him yet. This was a warning. A warning for him – at the expense of the people close to him.

“Alive…” Jyn wheezes, “on their way to hospital…using two of the standard aliases.”

Cassian nods stiffly, trying to compartmentalize and focus. Jyn leaves again before he can convince her to sit and rest, going to spread the news of the incident and leaving him alone with his thoughts.

He had been a fool. Such a goddamn fool.

He should have known better than to underestimate Krennic, to treat the warning signs as idle threats just because he’d managed to ensnare the man sent to end his life. Draven would have never done that and Cassian wonders if he’s been so distracted with Bodhi that he’s gotten sloppy? Has he lost his edge? He’d always liked to think he did a better job than his predecessor, so the knowledge that he’d failed both the group and broken his own oath stings double.

And not only that. Bodhi had not terminated him as assigned. Cassian hadn’t even thought to consider the repercussions he might face. A new shiver runs through his body, how could he have been so naive. He’d always know about the dangers of his work for the Alliance, but until now that hadn’t mattered, it had only ever been his own life on the line, nothing worthwhile. Though things are different now. Never before had he cared for anyone this much and if Krennic gets wind of how close he and Bodhi are, Bodhi is in danger. He’ll be the next on Krennic’s hit list, just after someone else has taken care of Cassian.

Cassian digs his fingers into his temples, his nails nearly breaking the skin. He’s let this go on for too long. He has to figure out a way to stop Krennic and end this once and for all. And soon.

He racks his brain all afternoon until he finally comes up with something. He’s just not sure if he likes it yet. He’s still in the hospital foyer on his way back from his visit when he takes out his phone and dials.

“Erso,” he hears after a few rings. She answers, sounding more put together than earlier if still a bit shaken.

“It’s me,” Cassian replies.

He isn’t sure why he calls, whether he actually wants advice or just someone to talk to, someone to offer absolution in advance. She listens either way, offers an ear as he sits in his car and tells her what he’s about to do. His fingers clutch the wheel hard enough for the knuckles to turn white.

“Jyn, tell me I’m not making a mistake,” he says finally, unable to shake off the feeling that this is exactly what he’s doing.

On the other end of the line, Jyn takes a deep breath. She doesn’t seem thrilled. The silence feels worse than any insult. Absolution is not what he’s going to get then.

“I care for you. But I’ve also come to like Rook, I don’t want to see him dead in a ditch.” She pauses. After a moment she says, “He’s going to fight it but, if there’s no other way, do what you think is best for you both.”

That’s the problem, the thing twisting uncomfortably in his stomach. He doesn’t think it’s the best for either of them, he doesn’t even think it’s good. But it’s necessary.

Even though she can’t see it, Cassian nods.

“I’ll try,” he answers back, hopes she understands and that Bodhi will too.

His heart feeling heavy, he hangs up.

By the time he finds himself in Bodhi’s apartment, he doesn’t know who his decision will hurt more. He has to remind himself it’s only temporary and wonders if Bodhi will wait for him.

\---

“What’s wrong? What happened?” Bodhi asks when Cassian arrives on his door with a fraught look in his eyes.

They hadn’t planned to meet up, not even ‘accidentally’ and Cassian seems shaken. He opens and closes his mouth like he wants to say something that he hasn’t quite found the strength for yet.

“Is there something–”

“You look gorgeous,” Cassian cuts him off, putting a hand to Bodhi’s chest and clutching at the fabric there. It’s obviously not what Cassian had planned to say, but the next moment his mouth is on Bodhi’s and effectively prevents him from asking any further questions.

Cassian kisses him like a drowning man, desperate and with everything he has, his body pressing against Bodhi’s and urging him backwards until his back hits the bedroom door. Pawing blindly at the handle, Bodhi pushes the door open before kissing Cassian back, trying to take some of the tension off from him. Tangled together, they fall onto the mattress, hurried hands tugging at each other’s clothes, and Bodhi knows he’s being swept along.

They should probably talk, but talking doesn’t seem to be what Cassian needs right now. He touches and kisses Bodhi with an urgency as if he wants to lose himself and block out everything else. If that is what he needs, Bodhi is more than ready to offer any relief he can. He buries his fingers in Cassian’s hair and tugs him even closer, his tongue coaxing a low moan from Cassian. There will be time for talking later.

Bodhi lies with Cassian afterwards, trying to catch his breath again and absentmindedly running his fingers over Cassian’s chest, the feeling that something is off now stronger than before. Cassian had been too desperate, nothing like the usual easy touches and playful laughter. Bodhi is even more confused when Cassian first puts his hand on top of his, stopping it from moving and lingering, then pushes it away. They both have yet to come down from the afterglow when Cassian suddenly gets up and starts looking for his clothes without a word. He’s usually never left so quickly, almost always staying the night if his schedule allowed it, and Bodhi watches him, perplexed.

He can’t help but feel taken aback entirely when Cassian finally speaks.

“I don’t… I don’t think we should see each other for a while,” he says.

It’s so out of left field that Bodhi thinks he must be joking. With sweat still cooling on their skin, Cassian can’t mean what he’s saying. Bodhi searches Cassian’s serious face for an answer, but finds none, the other man refusing to meet his gaze. Anger and confusion flare in Bodhi’s chest.

“What do you mean?” he asks, hating how desperate he sounds.

Cassian swallows hard, finally turning his head and looking at Bodhi with intensity. “I mean this isn’t working and it’s not fair to either of us,” he says, voice firm with an unreadable look on his face.

“It’s never been fair, what’s changed?” Bodhi asks, “If this is about Kay taking me out on milk runs then get a grip… I can take care of myself.” He’s sure he sounds angry, desperate even, but if Cassian is really doing this, he wants to know why.

Cassian’s mouth thins into a line as he shakes his head.

“I’ve just let it go on too long,” Cassian answers vaguely, shooting Bodhi a hard look, any reluctance he’s shown at first is gone now, “I have to stop it.”

Bodhi feels like something is crumbling away under his hands with no way to stop it and he balls them into fists. The lack of elaboration opens up what Bodhi knows must be the truth and the fight goes out of him. A part of him had always wondered when Cassian would get bored with him, with whatever thrill he got from having Bodhi at his beck and call. He didn’t expect it to be like this though, out of the blue with no warning or explanation. He takes a shallow breath and grits his teeth.

“I suppose you’re right,” he musters and Cassian looks surprised at the words.

He looks at Bodhi more carefully now and Bodhi hates it.

“It just has to be this way,” he says, perplexingly reaching out to cup Bodhi’s face. Bodhi doesn’t shake him off, he lets Cassian kiss him and tries not to cling too hard to the feeling. “I’ll see you soon,” Cassian says and leaves just like that.

\---

_‘I suppose you’re right.’_

The words haunt Cassian, still stuck in his head ever since he’d closed Bodhi’s door behind him twenty minutes ago and flashing up anew with every streetlight that he passes. He knows he’s screwed up. He’d been so fucking freaked about his - very stupid, he now realizes - decision and Bodhi had looked gorgeous and, _shit,_ the words had just refused to come out right and now he can’t shake off the unsettling feeling that Bodhi misunderstood.

He’d expected more of a fight, the initial anger had felt about what he imagined, but the way Bodhi just settled was… hard to face. It had sounded resigned, so final, that he wonders if maybe Bodhi didn’t even want to be with him that badly in the first place. Maybe this... thing between them was destined to fall apart, and now, faced with an out, Bodhi was glad to put an end to the distraction.

Cassian’s heart clenches. No, that can’t be, he refuses to believe it. He hadn’t felt more alive in years than in the months they’d spent together, and the mere thought he could have lost this pains him. When everything is over, whether that is in a month or tomorrow already, he swears to himself that he’s going try and smooth things over with Bodhi.

Cassian pulls up in front of his apartment and parks his car next to the curb. After switching off the engine, he gets out, remembering his gun case still in the trunk that he’d previously just thrown in there. He makes it a point to never leave it in the car even though he’s just going in for a quick change of clothes before taking care of this… _issue_.

He only notices the red dot appearing on his suit jacket when it’s already too late.

The next thing he feels is blinding hot pain exploding in his side.

With a groan, he hunches over and slides down along his car, hand pressed against the source of the white burn in his body. Feeling blood seep through his fingers, he half hopes it was Bodhi, as fucked up as that thought is. If it was Bodhi, he reasons, he’d have the courtesy to face him head on to finish it. And Cassian would be able to see him one last time.

But no one comes. He’s alone in the dead of night with nothing but burning pain and heavy regret.

\---

Turning off the stream of hot water with more force than strictly necessary, Bodhi steps out of the shower. He grabs a towel and ties it angrily around his waist. His fingers are trembling, but he blames it on the sudden drop in temperature around him.

He still can’t believe it. What was that just now? Did Cassian honestly just break up with him, saying _‘See you soon’_? He runs through the conversation in his mind and can’t imagine what he wants. He wonders what Cassian could even mean. Was it a placation or something more, did he expect Bodhi to still sleep with him as though this thing between them wasn't broken? Bodhi hates the part of himself that wouldn’t say no if it was the only thing Cassian offered and it burns. He'd known all along that Cassian's line of work called for a certain ruthlessness, maybe he’d been naive to think so, but he'd never expected this degree of personal cruelty.

He walks into his bedroom and when he pulls out a clean pair of sweatpants and a shirt, his eyes fall on the old travel bag at the bottom of his closet. He bends to pick up the bag and with it in his hands he sinks down onto his bed, giving it a long, contemplating look. He scoffs. It sounds choked off though, resembling more a suppressed sob. Maybe that’s a sign. He’d wanted out of the hitman life and now his only reason to stay was out of his life. Leaving town doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. There’s nothing left holding him here.

After he’s dressed, he starts throwing some random clothes into the bag with no tangible plan behind it. He practically tears his closet apart in the process and it’s almost cathartic. He takes satisfaction in cramming his formerly ironed white shirts into the darkness and pulling the zipper shut over the crinkled mess they’ve become.

The doorbell suddenly rings and startled Bodhi drops his vinyl-leather mixed coping mechanism.

He hurries to the door, because, _fuck,_ of course his traitorous heart immediately jumps to the conclusion that it’s Cassian who’s come to his senses. Before unlocking, he takes a deep breath to prepare himself in case it’s just the damn neighbor kids thinking it’s a great dare to prank buzz their mysterious neighbor.

It’s not the neighbor kids, though.

It’s Cassian. Cassian, who turns up on Bodhi’s doorstep, hand clutching his side.

When Bodhi pulls open the door, Cassian gives him a sheepish smile and lifts his hand. Blood is smeared on it and a red spot quickly spreads over his formerly white shirt, soaking through the suit jacket.

“I’m sorry?” Cassian says before he collapses.

Bodhi lunges forwards to catch him. He can’t hold him, so Bodhi ends up kneeling on his own front steps, Cassian cradled awkwardly in his lap.

“No, no, no, you are _not_ doing this to me!”

He’s pawing helplessly at Cassian’s side. He knows he should stop the bleeding, knows he should apply pressure to the wound, but he’s panicking too much to act consciously. He feels sick and still chokes out words.

"Fuck you for doing this! If anyone’s gonna shoot you, it’s supposed to be me, you fucking asshole!” Cassian’s hand spasms, clutching harder, Cassian looks up, barely conscious, and Bodhi is terrified. “I swear, if you die now, I'm going to kill you for real!"

Cassian passes out entirely and Bodhi is furious, at whoever shot him and at himself for letting Cassian walk out the door alone earlier when something was clearly wrong. He can’t bring himself to wish away what he feels even when it hurts this bad and he wonders if that’s what love is. His chest constricts painfully at the thought of watching Cassian die as he forces himself into action.

He knows moving people with injuries like Cassian’s can make matters worse but he has no choice. He pulls Cassian off the doorstep and inside as gently as he can. He doesn’t dare move him any further than the foyer, kneeling down once again and using his jacket to press down against the wound. He holds on knowing he can’t call 911 and prays that he can do enough. His eyes burn as he places his other hand shakily against Cassian’s chest, sighing with relief that he can still feel his heartbeat.

After moments of horror, the bleeding slows and Bodhi can breathe again.

\---

Cassian wakes to Bodhi stitching his side and cries out painfully, Bodhi can’t afford to falter, pausing to hold Cassian down so he doesn’t injure himself further.

“I know, it’s awful, you’ve had worse,” he says, trying to keep them both calm, even though he’s still panicking inside. Cassian is still out of it and can’t keep back the painful sounds.

“I’m sorry,” Cassian murmurs again, weakly grasping at Bodhi’s knee.

“It’s okay, it’s going to be okay,” Bodhi breathes, finishing as best as he can and tying off the seamed wound.

After dosing Cassian with potent pain pills, he takes the risk of moving him to the bedroom. Bodhi settles him in bed gently as he shuts his eyes again falling unconscious. Shifting Cassian as little as possible, he slides off his blood-soaked clothes, leaving him only in his underwear, trying to make him as comfortable as possible. After all the ways they’ve undressed each other this is one he never wants to repeat, never wants to see so much of Cassian’s blood again.

He stares at Cassian’s features. He still looks pale, but he’s going to live, Bodhi thinks desperately, trying to calm himself into believing it. He wants to clean himself off more thoroughly but dare not leave. He strips instead, sliding into bed beside Cassian, careful not to move him. He wraps his fingers around Cassian’s wrist and feels the steady pulse there in relief.

Cassian doesn’t wake again until morning. Bodhi had stayed up most of the night, dozing fitfully and startling awake just to watch Cassian breathe. When he looks up and finds Cassian staring back at him, his heart stutters in his chest.

“Is this heaven?” Cassian asks, voice rough from disuse. Bodhi wants to say something, that he should have let him die for using that line, but it’s too soon, he still has Cassian’s blood under his fingernails.

“Shut up,” he settles for, the words choked with emotion, sliding as close as he dares without disturbing Cassian’s injury. He presses his face into Cassian’s bare shoulder and Cassian doesn’t joke back, he laces his fingers with Bodhi’s where their hands meet under the blanket. There’s a lot that could be said between them but neither dares to start.

Eventually, Bodhi goes to get Cassian more meds from the bathroom. Cassian swallows down the pills thankfully and beckons Bodhi back to his side. He slides back in close enough to touch.

“You saved my life,” Cassian says, after a few minutes, running the back of his knuckles down Bodhi’s arm in a pattern, growing more and more out of it as the meds take effect.

“It’s my life to take, why shouldn’t I?” Bodhi says, trying to fall back into their usual banter though it sounds hollow.

He takes Cassian’s hand in his again, kissing the palm. It’s such an intimate gesture, but he supposes pulling a bullet from his side had been too. The question that’s plagued his mind since Cassian stumbled in won’t let him breathe so he speaks.

“Who did this?” he asks, trying to keep the edge from his voice, not wanting to upset Cassian but needing to know.

Cassian meets his eyes and sighs.

“I guess Krennic was serious after all,” he says with a grim smirk.

Bodhi stills at the words, eyes flashing with anger. “He was supposed to call it off, I gave back the money your people stole and we had a deal. I’m going to kill him,” he says roughly.

He pulls away from Cassian careful not to hurt him but swift to sit up. Bodhi’s mind blares at the betrayal knowing that he has to do something. He has to find Krennic now and kill him before more men are sent, but Cassian’s hand catches his wrist before he can stand.

“You made a deal, for me?” he says, the drugs slowing his thought process and making him emotional.

“Don’t… you’re hurt right now and you don’t have to know how I feel on top of it,” he says, almost desperately. Purposefully he calms himself, not wanting the stress to hurt Cassian more. “I have to go now though,” he says as much as it pains him.

Cassian shakes his head, clearly frustrated and tired.

“I love you,” he says weakly, he’s on the verge of unconsciousness again. “I wanted to see you one more time. To tell you.”

Bodhi’s heart spikes, he can’t do this right now.

“I’ll come back, I promise,” he says with finality, hating the wounded look in Cassian’s eyes as he retreats. He’s too afraid of losing him to say what Cassian wants to hear.

He calls Kay and first has to talk him down from going after Krennic himself. Kay is at Bodhi’s house in record time, pissed at him for not calling the night before when Cassian was considered missing to everyone in the organization on top of the general chaos caused by the explosion at Chirrut and Baze’s place. Bodhi is taken aback by this information, but looking back onto Cassian’s odd behaviour, the pieces fall into place and Bodhi bites his lip. This idiot. If Cassian has one major flaw, it’s thinking he needs to shoulder everything alone.

“I’ll take care of him, just go,” Kay says, tone clipped as he sits by Cassian’s bedside. Bodhi knows not to take it personally and nods.

Before he leaves the room, he takes a last look at Cassian who is sound asleep. He’s beautiful and he’s going to stay alive, even if Bodhi doesn’t make it back, it’s enough. He doesn’t let himself move closer, knowing no unheard confession can help him now.

He grabs his gun from the safe and leaves to do what he’s best at.

\---

The hours pass as Bodhi sits behind the steering wheel, waiting and drumming his fingers against it. He’s parked in a side alley and his eyes never leave the entrance of the building on the other side of the street. The heavy rain, constantly drumming down on the roof of his car, feels like an echo of the words raining down on him this morning. His mind keeps repeating them in an endless loop, over and over again, and they only seem to be getting louder each time. _‘I love you.’_

“Why?” Frustrated, Bodhi slams his fist against the console. It hurts. “This isn’t fair. This is playing dirty, so goddamn dirty.”

Why did Cassian go and have to say it? Why now, while lying in Bodhi’s bed, looking like death and high enough on painkillers to just say whatever comes into his head, giving him this pained, pleading look in hopes Bodhi would stay. And the worst thing is, Bodhi knows it’s not the meds. Because if it had been him, he’d have said the exact same thing. That doesn’t make it any fairer though.

Right now, all he wants to do is put a bullet between Krennic’s eyes, dump him in the deepest part of the river, then head back home and reassure himself Cassian hasn’t gone ahead and died without a word. Bodhi’s fingers clench around the steering wheel and he needs to forcibly relax them. Cassian had seemed stable by the time Bodhi had left this morning, but working in this profession, Bodhi had seen more than one supposedly non-fatal wound taking a turn for the worse within mere hours and he can’t shake off the gnawing feeling of doubt that keeps creeping back into his thoughts.

He is fiddling with his cell phone, tempted to call Kay and ask how Cassian is doing, when a sudden movement catches his attention and he lets the phone drop to the floor. There he is, the smug bastard. White coat, dragging through grey street slush, an equally pristine umbrella over his head. All that’s missing is a cape for the dramatics, Bodhi thinks bitterly. But then again, he’ll make sure Krennic won’t ever need one.

No one else is outside, except for one of Krennic’s minions, walking a few steps behind. This is exactly the reason why Krennic prefers to operate from this desolated part of the industrial area of the city. No possible witnesses. No matter the crime. All the better, Bodhi thinks and screws the silencer into the muzzle of his gun. He presses a button to open his window. The distance is short enough for a clean shot, while at the same time the sound of the pane whirring down won’t carry all the way. Good.

His finger is already curling around the trigger when his phone rings, cutting through the silence like a knife.

Bodhi quickly lets the gun sink and hurries to get to his cell to kill the noise. It’s caught under the accelerator and he needs a second before he finally gets hold of it. He half expects the caller ID to be Kay’s – he’s always had an impeccable talent to pick the worst possible moments. Bodhi will never forget the one time Kay had barged in while he and Cassian were having a rather heated, but clothesless debate on Cassian’s desk over whether said debate did count as a date or not.

But the number flashing on the screen isn’t Kay’s. Neither is it one Bodhi recognizes.

“How are we doing today? Nice weather outside, isn’t it?”

As soon as he hears the voice on the other end of the line, pointed and pretentious in sound, and connects it to the man on the other side of the street, stopping and raising a hand to his ear, slowly turning towards Bodhi’s car, he brings the gun back up.

“Krennic.” He spits out the name as if it were an insult.

“Mr. Rook, it’s my pleasure. Now, here’s a bit of advice: I wouldn’t do that, if I were you.”

“Give me one good reason,” Bodhi says dryly. “We had a deal and you broke it. You should have taken back your money and left it at that. If there is one thing in this ruthless business that matters, it’s personal honor. Which you don’t have.”

Krennic sighs, making it a point to sound utterly bored with the whole conversation. “Honor is not what I’m interested in, you know that. And as for a reason, how about the life of the sewer rat that currently has a sniper aiming at him through your bedroom window?”

The words hit him like a slap in the face. Bodhi’s teeth clench and he can hear the blood rushing in his ears as his pulse speeds up. _‘Cassian, Cassian, Cassian’_ is all that is running through his head and Bodhi fears he might get sick. But ultimately anger outweighs fear and worry and he tightens his grip, determination in his eyes.

“You just picked the wrong target,” he growls into the phone. “Cassian Andor is _mine_.”

\---

By the time Cassian wakes up, Bodhi is already gone.

His eyes still closed, Cassian reaches across the bed, trying to seek him out, but his hand finds nothing but cold sheets. Suppressing a pained groan, he rolls onto his side, closer to the edge of the bed. The painkillers are still slowing him down and his head feels heavy.

“Don’t move, idiot. This is why I always said you need a bodyguard. But did you listen? No.”

“Kay?” Cassian croaks. The answer he gets is an irritated huff supposed to hide his right-hand man’s nevertheless obvious worry. “Where is Bodhi?”

“Not here.”

“Kay…”

“He told me not to tell you, okay? Although, I wonder why I should listen to him, after all the trouble I had to deal with yesterday. No one knew where you were, Jyn threw a fuss, it was a madhouse. I never thought you’d be here, not after you dumped him. And you got shot anyway, lot of good that did then.”

Cassian pushes himself up on his elbows, and instantaneously a sharp pain flashes up in his side. But he doesn’t care. “I never dumped him!?” Cassian says, confused as his head pounds with the accusation.

“Bodhi seemed to think so. I told him about the bakery though, and I guess he figured out your stupid-ass reasoning.” Kay shakes a pill from the bottle with painkillers and hands it to Cassian. “Anyway, take that, then lie back down before you hurt yourself any more.”

Cassian swallows the pill without even taking the water Kay holds out to him. “All I wanted was… “

Cassian shakes his head, giving up on explaining, Kay isn’t the one who deserves the explanation anyway. But with Bodhi gone there are more pressing matters he has to focus on.

“Go back to the group,” he says. “They have to know what happened, I’ll be fine here.” Kay looks skeptical, he’s disapproving and Cassian knows. “Go,” he repeats and Kay reluctantly complies.

He can feel the meds kicking in again. The pain in his side is dulling, but so is his mind.

\---

Bodhi knows Krennic isn’t bluffing and feels sick. He already can guess how Krennic will respond, but he stalls anyway.

“Call them off now and I’ll let you live,” Bodhi says.

“Oh, it’s far too late for that. You went and fell in love with him, didn’t you? Pathetic,” he spits as Bodhi fumes. The heart of the matter laid open with Krennic gladly picking at the weakness.

“If you’re going to kill him anyway, what’s stopping me from shooting you now?” Bodhi snaps, pointing the gun back at Krennic.

The man in white doesn’t even flinch. “Let’s not be hasty, Rook, I thought you were more of a professional than that,” he says sounding amused. “I have a proposition, if you’re willing to be adult about it.” There’s an edge to his voice and Bodhi’s stomach churns, knowing whatever he wants Bodhi will do. When they met Cassian had smiled without fear, he remembers that and burns out his soul for it.

“Who do you need dead?” Bodhi asks coldly down the line.

“Well, there is one person I can think of who is much more important than your rat. Someone that I could make a real deal for if you’re interested,” he teases, Bodhi grips the phone hard.

“Tell me and it’s done,” he bites back.

Krennic responds primly as ever.

“You have four hours to shoot Senator Organa and bring me proof,” he demands and Bodhi freezes. Her security will kill him first and Krennic knows that.

“Just think, a politician in exchange for true love. That’s not such a bad deal,” he continues sounding amused and Bodhi can’t believe how fucked he is. Krennic wants to see him squirm, to protest and plead, but he won’t.

“Deal,” he says, hanging up. He can see Krennic laughing as he drives off.

\---

When Bodhi returns to his apartment, he doesn’t waste any time. Without taking off his shoes or jacket, both soaked from the short walk from car to doorstep, he marches directly into his bedroom. It’s empty and he feels a new wave of panic rising. He rushes back out of the room, cursing. What’s going on now? He thought he had at least four hours!

He lets out a sigh of relief when he finds Cassian in kitchen, still wearing nothing but the pair of boxers Bodhi last saw him in. He’s perched on a chair, twisted awkwardly in the attempt to apply a new dressing all by himself. Cassian winces as he tries to tape the loose end of the bandage to his chest.

“What are you doing?!” Bodhi hurries over to him and takes the gauze from his hands. “Why are you even out of bed? And where is Kay? He was supposed to look after you.”

Cassian doesn’t protest when Bodhi takes over and starts fixing the rest of the dressing. He shrugs – and promptly bites back a curse. “He did. Kay was here when I woke up, but I sent him back to the Alliance. If Krennic goes so far as to shoot me, he might go after the others, too. They should know to watch out.”

Bodhi shakes his head. “I think they’re safe. Mostly. Krennic was after you, you specifically. Because he wants me to do his dirty work for him,” he explains, a bitter note to his voice. “I have four hours to shoot Senator Organa or Krennic will put a hit on you. A real one. Yesterday was just a warning.”

Cassian doesn’t even question why Krennic thinks he can use him against Bodhi. They both know why it works. Instead he reaches for Bodhi’s hand that just finished working on his bandage and squeezes it. This thing between them has long since stopped being a casual fling. It’s much, much more. There’s no point in denying it anymore. Bodhi swallows dry and squeezes back.

“Organa,” Cassian repeats then. “It’d be a shame, she and I have a kind of truce between us. I don’t step out of line, keep in the grey area of the law, and she turns a blind eye to our existence. But it makes sense. She’s got a lot of influence and is not corruptible, she’s in his way. Say, what date is today?”

“Friday, twenty-fifth.”

Cassian nods and glances at the clock. “There’s a public press conference at the town hall in about two hours. Organa will be there.” He pauses, then cocks his head and looks at Bodhi, neither judging nor influencing, simply asking. “Are you gonna do it?”

“I…” Bodhi falters briefly. He’s a hitman, after all, and Krennic knows he’d do anything for Cassian, regardless of the consequences for himself. But Krennic doesn’t know everything. “No,” he says firmly. “Not if I have any other option. You were supposed to be my last job before I quit.”

His career had ended that night on the top floor when his supposed target had grinned at him and asked him out with the words _‘One date. Then you can shoot me.’_

Cassian looks at him. “I know,” he says softly, and Bodhi is grateful for his understanding. “So, what are our options?”

“Not good, that’s for sure.” Bodhi huffs. “I don’t do it, Krennic gets his men to kill you. I shoot the Senator, then her security takes me out and Krennic kills you anyway.”

Why leave one problem alive when he can get rid of all three of them. Bodhi knows what Krennic’s ultimate goal is and his stomach clenches. How are they supposed to win this?

“You sound like Kay, always assuming the worst.” For some reason, there’s a sly sparkle in Cassian’s eyes. “Like I said, the Senator and I have a truce… And I also have her number.”

Two hurried phone calls and four quickly typed out texts later, Bodhi goes to unlock the safe in his bedroom closet. The plan might be rushed, but it can work. Erso and Kay are no amateurs. Maybe they stand a chance after all. In any case, he’ll need a different gun.

Bodhi lets his jacket fall over the gun tucked into the back of his slacks when he sees Cassian enter. Cassian’s look falls onto the half-packed bag. He turns at Bodhi who shakes his head. _Not anymore_. Cassian nods. Some things are better expressed without words.

“I’ll come with you,” he says then and takes one of Bodhi’s shirts from the bag. “Do you mind?” he asks casually, already starting to close the buttons. “Mine’s a little dirty.”

Bodhi can see through the mask, sees the little flinch as the movement tugs at Cassian’s wound – it was either more painkillers or a clear mind – and he wants to say _‘Fuck, of course, I mind. You’re hurt and you’re staying right here.’_ But he knows better. It’s useless to argue over this. It’s just a waste of time. They’re in this together. So he tries his best to muster up a smile and says, “Only if you bring it back in one piece.”

The moment before they close the door behind them and step into the rain, Cassian puts his hand on Bodhi’s arm to stop him. He moves his hand up to Bodhi’s face and brushes his thumb over Bodhi’s cheek.

“Before we do this… What I said this morning, I–”

Bodhi cuts him off with a kiss. “We’ll talk about it later,” he breathes and then adds with a bit of levity, “after the next date.”

Cassian’s mouth quirks up at the promise.

\---

Leia gets the call out of the blue and while she is taken aback she can’t help but take the warnings to heart.

Cassian Andor, who usually played things so cool, sounded frantic and serious on the phone when he explained what was going on, pleading with her to help.

She knew it was her new bill that got Krennic’s attention, knowing that if it passed his corrupt contacts in the police force would be cut loose. The Senator briefly considers actually staging her death for real, but knows there has to be a better way.

Playing it smarter, she uses her connections to the media instead, spreading a false story that she was shot in her office, condition critical, gunman missing. The networks pick it up and she breathes a sigh of relief, hoping Krennic will believe for long enough before it is debunked.

It’s not much, but it’s a head start for Andor, and she hopes it’s enough.

\---

Bodhi uses the time before the news even comes out as a head start setting plans in motion, getting resources together with Kay and Jyn as quickly as possible and making their way toward Krennic’s headquarters.

If their plans go right, by the time the news goes out, just when Krennic thinks he’s won, Bodhi will be there with a gun against his temple. He drives the hot-wired car onto Krennic’s property through a back road only one hour after his ultimatum. Kay’s stolen car follows, parking alongside the fence and cutting a hole to enter as he goes to disarm the cameras and alarms on the property. Cassian looks pained and ill and as much as Bodhi knows he wants to soldier on he has to protest.

“You should stay in the car,” Bodhi says. Cassian looks offended at the suggestion, even as he appears to hold back a wince.

“I’m not leaving you,” Cassian says with a tone of finality. The look in his eyes is serious and Bodhi realizes it would be a waste of time and energy to argue now. Though it’s useless he wishes he could scream at what a stubborn asshole Cassian is. He distracts himself instead, counting how many rounds of ammunition they have. He’s resolutely not thinking about what he will do if Cassian is hurt again when Cassian breaks the fraught silence.

“I’m going to be okay, and if I’m not, I’d rather be with you,” he says. It’s so sincere it hurts.

Bodhi can’t handle it, refusing to meet Cassian’s eyes and swallowing around the tightness in his throat. He focuses on the gun in his hands, loading it with precision until Cassian’s hand comes to his face, tilting his chin up and gently forcing him to meet his gaze. Bodhi can’t bear how pale and broken he still looks with a spike of fear in his heart again. Cassian seems to pick up on it, leaning across the center console despite the ache in his side and placing a hand gently against Bodhi’s chest. They lean in almost at once and Bodhi sighs as their mouths meet. The kiss is short and desperate.

When they pull apart the silence is heavy, now might be his last chance and still, Bodhi holds back. Cassian’s phone buzzes sharply, breaking them from the moment. Kay has disabled the alarms and it’s time to go.

“You know the plan,” is all Bodhi says, trying to stay focused. Cassian nods surely, grabbing his own gun from the center console. They exit the vehicle and head for the doors to take down whoever gets in their way and take Krennic out once and for all.

\---

They enter like shadows. Bodhi and Cassian from the left side of the building, Kay and Jyn from the right. Any moment now the news of the Senator’s supposed assassination attempt that are spreading through the media like wildfire should reach the secluded estate. And that is when they’ll make their move.

Besides the electronic security system there is a surprising lack of personnel, and the only two henchmen unfortunate enough to come their way are quickly taken care of. They might not even have heard the soft _fwip_ of the muffled shots.

Bodhi nods over at Cassian, standing on the other side of the door leading into a great hall, the main part of Krennic’s headquarters. The hall has two other exits, both blocked by Jyn and Kay. In the unlikely case that Krennic even gets close to either of them, Cassian’s right-hand man and his underboss will make sure that that’s the end of his grand escape.

Cassian returns the nod and together they step into the hall. Just as the figure by the window finishes his phone call.

“Yes… Good… If she bites it without us having to help along, even better. Now someone go find me that mess of a hitman. Who knows what he’s planning.” Krennic snaps the phone shut and makes a frustrated noise “Seriously, all amateurs.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Bodhi says, causing Krennic to turn around.

“Oh. Rook. And Andor, too. What a nice surprise. I hope the little scratch,” Krennic gestures to his side, “doesn’t bother you too much.”

“Fuck you.” Cassian replies simply. He appears calm, but Bodhi has known him for long enough to read the look in his eyes. Cassian loathes this man, from the tips of his white leather shoes to the collar of his white custom-made suit.

“What is this?” Krennic drawls out sarcastically. He points back and forth between Bodhi and Cassian. “Mr and Mr Smith? Good try, but I think I prefer the Hollywood version.”

“Do you really want that to be your last words?” Bodhi raises his gun a bit higher and flexes his fingers around the handle. When they resettle, his index curves around the trigger, ready to apply just the slightest amount of pressure and then this nightmare will be over. “Because that’s what they’re going to be.”

“Ever so sure of yourself. Those are still a long way off,” Krennic taunts. “Not with you and this cursed senator still breathing. – _Catch!_ ”

He throws the phone he’s still holding at Bodhi – and everything happens very quickly. Reacting on instinct, Bodhi turns his head just as Krennic produces a small handgun from the inside of his jacket and aims at him.

Two shots fall.

Then there is deafening silence.

One beat passes. Then another. Altogether three beats pass before Bodhi dares to turn again and see what happened. He can’t be dead because of the sole reason that he is wondering just that. The other possibility is that Cassian could be… He doesn’t even want to think about it. If Cassian just caught another bullet and Krennic is still pointing the gun at him, just waiting for Bodhi to see, savouring his triumph, then he’ll know soon enough.

When he finally does look, what he sees is Cassian. Standing, breathing, and slowly lowering his smoking gun. Krennic is on the floor, white slowly turning into red. There is a hole in the wall behind Bodhi’s head, made by the deflected bullet as Cassian’s shot hit Krennic in the chest.

Cassian turns to Bodhi and says in a low, final tone, “You’re the only one who gets to shoot me. But the same goes for you. That is my privilege.”

\---

The choppers surely send by the senator’s orders arrive just as they make their way back to the car and away from this part of their lives.

Bodhi has Cassian’s arm around his shoulders, supporting him lest he collapses mere minutes after saving Bodhi’s life. Although the adrenaline is doing a decent job, it can’t replace the painkillers entirely and the lack of them now fully hits Cassian. They duck through the fence and come to a halt next to the stolen vehicle.

“I’m a pretty bad hitman, huh,” Bodhi says, standing in front of the passenger door. He looks Cassian in the eye and waits a moment, just glad he is still able to do so. He is well aware of the impact his next words will have. “Did the one thing I shouldn’t have. I just went ahead and fell in love with my target. And then he even saved my ass. Maybe I should change careers?”

As a response, Cassian leans forward and presses his forehead to Bodhi’s. He places a hand on Bodhi’s face and cradles his chin, slowly tilting his own head. The soft kiss then pressed against Bodhi’s lips is better than any _‘I love you, too.’_

When Cassian pulls back, he smiles. “Yeah, you should… And I just happen to know someone who’s got a vacancy.”

\---

For the first time in over a week, Cassian is back in his chair at Alliance Headquarters. And, hell, he’s missed it.

He would have been fine to go back right after most of the dust the media created around the affair settled, but both Bodhi and Kay had turned a deaf ear to his repeated assurances. Cassian still doesn’t think it was fair to gang up on him like that, but since he didn’t have to spend time recovering alone, he could live with the involuntary time-out.

He leans forward to turn the page of the newspaper before him and continue with the article. It tweaks at his side and causes him to try and stifle a small wince. Maybe, he has to admit, he’s not yet as fine as he likes to believe. Though the wound still made considerable progress and Cassian guesses it shouldn’t take too long for it to heal completely.

“You’re impossible,” chides the voice behind his chair. “Wait, let me.”

Form where he, too, has been following the article about a recent run-in between Alliance members and Imperials, Bodhi leans over Cassian’s shoulder, his arm brushing past Cassian’s – it might be coincidence, though possibly is not – and turns the page.

“As much as it feels like we’ve won, I’m afraid this fight isn’t over. You have to take better care of yourself.”

“Hey, I’m trying.” Cassian turns around, thank heavens for swivel chairs, and looks up at Bodhi. “I’ve officially hired someone to help me now, he doesn’t even mind the overtime.” Cassian smirks. “How’s life in the Alliance, new boss giving you any problems?”

“Not yet,” Bodhi answers with a grin, “but I already know it’s gonna be a full-time job to keep him safe. I think I’ll just have to move in with him for good.”

“Sounds reasonable, you should probably do that.” Taking Bodhi’s hand in his, Cassian lets the playful smirk turn into a soft smile. “He can count himself really lucky. I hope he knows that.”

“He does.”

Bodhi mimics the expression, looking deep into his eyes. There’s happiness and love shining in them and Cassian feels an overwhelming warmth flooding his body. This is real. Bodhi loves him. And he loves Bodhi. No more charades, they’re finally both able to admit to it and he couldn’t wish for more. He revels in the feeling as Bodhi gently brushes a stray strand of hair behind Cassian’s ear.

The door opens and Kay comes in. He seems a little peeved.

“If this recruitment strategy becomes mandatory, I’m quitting,” he announces.

“What?” Cassian asks. “We’re absolutely decent for once. Here.” He turns back and hands Kay the article. “We made the front page.”

Kay takes the newspaper, grimacing.

“No, but you’re still a bad influence,” he says. “This organization handles politics way too physically for my tastes.”

Cassian isn’t entirely sure what he means with that, but before he can ask for an explanation, Jyn storms in through the still open door, accusingly pointing a finger at Kay while calling his name.

“If you ever breathe a word of this, I swear, I’ll–” She breaks off when she realizes she’s standing in the middle of Cassian’s office with both Cassian and Bodhi watching with curiosity. Jyn motions at Kay. “Whatever he’s told you, it’s not true. I was just doing what’s expected of a liaison. The Senator can attest to that.”

“I’m sure she can,” Kay deadpans and Jyn shoots him a deadly glare.

Shortly putting a hand on Cassian’s shoulder, Bodhi comes around his desk and steps in before things get physical again, though with a different outcome this time.

Cassian just leans back and watches. Some things have changed within the Alliance, within his life, now being their lives, and there are some things that will never change. He’s looking forward to the future. Whatever it may bring. 

 

 

<<>><<>><<>>

 

Bodhi finally catches his breath, mock glaring up from his position pinned beneath Cassian on the hotel bed. He squirms trying to try and push him off, caught when Cassian slides his hand up his ribs. He knows Bodhi hates it, cackling as he protests.

“I’m going to kill you,“ Bodhi sputters between painful laughter, finally getting the leverage to flip them over and take control of the situation.

Straddling his husband, Bodhi breathes hard at the exertion and the sight of the man splayed out beneath him. Cassian stops trying to attack and rests his hands on Bodhi’s waist, grinning up at him full force.

“After the next honeymoon, right?“ he says with a huff of laughter.

Bodhi leans down and bites at Cassian’s neck in response, loving how he gasps.

“Exactly,” Bodhi murmurs, unable to think of a better quip and not caring as they melt together.

 


End file.
